Sunday, May 7, 2017

The election of Emmanuel Macron to the French presidency on May 7 is a victory for France, it is a victory for Europe, and a victory for the world.

We now have a pattern: During the past year, the British people have voted to exit from the European Union, the US elected President Trump, while the Austrians elected a Green Party President, the Dutch turned back Geert Wilders’ nativist insurgency, and the French elected the centrist Emmanuel Macron to the presidency.

It appears that the two Anglo-Saxon nations have given in to the politics of fear, hatred and division, whereas other countries (so far) opt for the politics of hope, progress and unification.

It may be that the United States and Britain, having been largely dominant in the world for the past couple of centuries, are having difficulty adjusting to a diminished role and a reduction in privilege.

The French outcome is particularly commendable, as that country has suffered from far more terrorism than other Western countries. If anyone has the right to feel paranoid, it’s the French. I would guess, also, that Macron won by far the largest number of votes in Paris and in other big cities, whereas Le Pen’s support was primarily in the provinces - always a paradox, as most terrorism occurs in Paris.

Be that as it may, the French vote means that the European Union is safe, at least for the foreseeable future. That, in turn, is good news for the rest of the world. For now, France (along with Austria, the Netherlands and Germany, but UNLIKE Hungary and some other Eastern European countries) has said no to Europhobia, Islamophobia and Xenophobia.

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